# Settings that differ in production

Prompt · Testing and security · S06

Finds settings that behave differently in production than anyone expects.

## Prompt

```text
Audit settings that differ between local development, CI, preview and production. Find ambiguous fallbacks, fail-open access controls and configuration whose behavior silently changes when an environment variable is missing. Verify against the actual deployment configuration, not only README examples.
```

**What it returns:** A table of each setting per environment, the default when missing, and the behavior that changes.

**Skip it when:** Projects with one environment.

**Tools:** Vercel settings list (names only, never values), automated build config, the code that reads each setting.

**Watch for:** Never print secret values. The audit needs variable names and code paths, not contents.

**Changes:** Changes nothing

**Sessions:** One session

## Related

- [Security checks that fail open](https://atlasscope.dev/prompts/security-checks-that-fail-open): Finds security checks that let people in when something goes wrong.
- [Dashboard and repo out of sync](https://atlasscope.dev/prompts/dashboard-and-repo-out-of-sync): Finds where the hosting dashboard and the repo disagree.
- [Database changes during a deploy](https://atlasscope.dev/prompts/database-changes-during-a-deploy): Checks that each database change works with the old code that is still live while a release finishes.

Source: https://atlasscope.dev/prompts/settings-that-differ-in-production